For more than 30 years, I've collected hundreds of penguin Christmas tree ornaments from the places I visit. My family and friends have added more with their gifts. Now I'm going to photograph and catalog the collection and I thought other penguin fans might like to follow along.
Here are a few snaps of my three penguin trees in 2009.
The big tree is downstairs in my living room. It holds all my glass and ceramic ornaments and a few of my other favorites. Here's a closer look at the big tree:
Also downstairs in the tv den is the wood tree. All the ornaments are made of wood or other plant materials.
In the bottom center of the closeup is a penguin with a green scarf holding a gold horn. It's from a set of four musicians, a gift from my mother, that began it all. Watch for details in a future post.
Fabric ornaments hang from pine garland in the dining room and living room windows.
The rest of the penguins are on a tree upstairs in the guest room.
This tree is older than my penguins. It was our tree in Florida in the '60s when I was growing up. We kids hated it at first, but Mom hated sweeping up pine needles even more. Gradually, we got used to the idea of an artificial tree, and we had to admit it looked good — almost real — once it was decorated. Also, it was fun to unpack the branches and assemble the tree every year. Sadly, this may be its last stand. The holes for the branches in its wooden trunk are so worn down that I had to tie some of the boughs to one another to hold them up. I had to prop one leg of the tree stand on a book to keep it from tipping over. The tree was first retired after 2005 when I needed a bigger one, but that only lasted two years when the ornament collection outgrew even the new big tree in 2008. I call it the Bonnie Loch tree, because that was the name of our neighborhood.
The current ornament total is 768 (including four retired because of damage). Now, a new year begins.
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